SCOTS star Martin Laird finished with a flourish at the Players Championship last night as a birdie on his final hole fired him into a share of the lead.

SCOTS star Martin Laird finished with a flourish at the Players Championship last night as a birdie on his final hole fired him into a share of the lead.

Laird joined English ace Ian Poulter at the top of the Sawgrass leaderboard on seven under as he posted a sizzling 65.

And the 29-year-old capped his flawless opening round in style by chipping to within five feet on his last hole – the ninth – then rolling home the birdie putt.

The Glaswegian also managed a birdie on the daunting 17th island hole and if he keeps up this brilliant form he could walk away the £1million on offer to the winner, golf’s richest prize.

Laird, the only player without a bogey on his card, put it all down to his putting. “I finally made some,” he said. “I’ve always struggled before.

“I was quietly confident going out. I’m not saying I thought I would shoot seven under but I thought I could play well.”

But he faces a fierce fight in Florida to hold off Poulter who bagged eight birdies and a bogey during his storming round, while Blake Adams heads a strong American challenge on six under.

Poulter was ambling through his round before he suddenly came to life at the ninth hole. He was only one under at that stage but pitched to four feet and began a run of four birdies. The two-time World Match Play champion hit his approach to six feet at the 10th, came out of sand to four feet on the next and converted an 18-foot putt at the 12th.

Another up-and-down from a bunker at the par-five 16th took him alongside Adams and a curling nine-foot putt at the dangerous 17th gave him the outright lead until Laird’s late birdie.

The English star said: “That would be one of the top-10 rounds of golf I have ever played. You have to hit the right shot at the right time – it’s a very difficult course and tests you to the highest.

“It seems silly to say you would be disappointed after a round of 65 but it could have been even better. I had a lot of chances on the front nine and it would have been nice to take a few of them.”

While Poulter blitzed the course, Tiger Woods was in danger of another missed cut after carding a five-bogey 74.

The struggling American star said: “Any kind of momentum I could build I would then shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole.

“It was frustrating as my good shots ended up in bad spots and my bad shots ended up in worse spots.”

Argentina’s two-time Major winner Angel Cabrera also had a day to forget after putting three balls in the water for a sextuple bogey nine at 17 in his 78.